BioCRACK pilot plant – Integrating a biorefining technology within conventional infrastructures

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Name
BioCRACK Pilot Plant
Company
Partnership: BDI – BioEnergy International AG, OMV Refining and Marketing GmbH, the Institute of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Technology and the Austrian Climate & Energy Fund “New Energies 2020”
Location
Schwechat (Austria)
Category
Pilot plant (integrated in the OMV refinery)
Status
Dismantled by the end of 2015
Platforms
Vacuum gas oil, pyrolysis oil and electricity & heat
Feedstock
Wood chips (soft and hard wood), forestry residues, straw and other agricultural residues
Products
Renewable gasoline & diesel, biochar and pyrolysis oil
Start-up
2012
Processing capacity
400,000 tons/y of biomass



Figure 1. BioCRACK pilot plant (extracted from Reference 2)

In the transition towards the biobased economy, the integration of biorefining processes within conventional infrastructures can be a key factor to speed up the development of certain novel technologies. This post brings an example coming from the thermochemical platform. Such platform include processes with strong potential to be integrated in the existing facilities of sectors such as conventional refining or pulp and paper.

THE PROJECT

BDI and OMV were jointly involved in the BioCRACK pilot plant project from 2009 to 2015 with support from the Institute of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Technology and the Austrian Climate & Energy Fund - “New Energies 2020”. The main objective was to develop a technically simple, cost-effective and small-scale process based on the liquid phase pyrolysis technology.

The basic research on the technology started in 2007 and the first test trials were performed during 2008 and 2009. The engineering, construction and start-up of the pilot plant were carried out from 2010 to 2012 and tests were run 24h/5d within the next two years. The dimensions of the module of 60 tons built in the OMV refinery were 7.5 m x 7 m x 21.5 m (height) and it had 2,000 m of pipes. The cost of the project came to EUR 7 million. The results obtained under the various operation conditions showed that the up-scaling from a semi batch lab-scale reactor to a pilot plant was successful.

THE PROCESS

The BioCRACK pilot plant used the liquid phase pyrolysis (liquefaction of solid biomass) process whereby the biomass (100 kg/h) is heated with fossil vacuum gas oil (1,000 kg/h) from the oil refinery to over 400 °C. The biomass consisted largely of wood and straw. The process generated the following intermediate products: pyrolysis gas, pyrolysis oil, biochar, BioCRACK gasoil and kerosene, BioCRACK naphtha and vacuum gas oil.

Figure 2. Integration of the BioCRACK pilot plant in the refinery (extracted from Reference 2)

The BioCRACK pilot plant was directly linked to other units in the refinery. The pyrolysis gas and the biochar were used to provide part of the process heat. The vacuum gas oil was put into the fluidized catalytic cracking (FCC) process to produce renewable gasoline, low HC gas and a heavy fraction. The BioCRACK gasoil, kerosene and naphtha were used in the hydrogenation to produce renewable gasoline and diesel.  As the bioCRACK process uses beside biomass also vacuum gas oil from the oil refinery, fossil and biogenic carbon is mixed in intermediates, co-products and final products.
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REFERENCES
1 www.bdi-bioenergy.com (accessed on 14th May 2016).
2 E. Ahn: “The bioCRACK Process – a refinery integrated biomass-to-liquid concept to produce diesel from biogenic feedstock” (Presentation). BDI - BioEnergy International AG. April 2016.
3 IEA Bioenergy Task 42 Biorefining. Factsheets Biorefineries. 3-platform (vacuum gas oil, pyrolysis oil, electricity&heat) biorefinery using wood for renewable gasoline&diesel, biochar and pyrolysis oil.

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